OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 67 



was frozen except in places where the current was rapid. Mrs. 

 Celia Thaxter ('70, p. 211) in writing of the sea birds in sum- 

 mer at the Isles of Shoals, mentions that " the little yellow gulls, 

 just out of the egg, ran tumbling about among the stones," and 

 it is not unlikely that they formerly bred there. 



Xote : Lams clela\varensis Ord. RING-BII,I,ED GUI,I.. 



Mrs. E. E. Webster ( :oob) has recorded as of this species a bird cap- 

 tured at Campton Village in November, 1898. I am informed, however, - 

 that the identification is in doubt, and the species is therefore without a 

 positive record for the state, though it should unquestionably occur on 

 the coast. 



16. Lams Philadelphia (Ord). BONAPARTE'S GULL. 

 A spring and fall migrant and rare winter resident on the 



coast, where it is probably more common than the few observa- 

 tions might seem to indicate ; occasional inland on the larger 

 bodies of water. Records are at hand from the following locali- 

 ties : Charlestown, where an immature bird was taken on the 

 Connecticut by Mr. W. M. Buswell, August 3, 1897 ; Milford, 

 single birds several times taken, as Mr. J. P. Melzer writes me ; 

 Plymouth, a flock of about 100 birds noted in May, 1877, by 

 " H. B. E." ('77, p. 345) ; Portsmouth, a male is in the Bryant 

 collection, Mus. Comp. Zool., taken Oct. 20, 1885; Rye Beach, 

 Mr. William Brewster tells me that he found it common during 

 migration in late summer ; Seabrook, Mr. A. A. Eaton writes me 

 of a specimen which he mounted Feb. 15, 1890; Sunapee Lake, 

 Dr. W. H. Fox writes me that an immature bird was shot in 

 August, 1880 ; Webster, Mr. C. F. Goodhue writes me of two tak- 

 en on a pond, one about 1890, the other during the last of Aug- 

 ust, 1897. 

 Dates : May ; August 3 to October 20. Winter. 



17. Sterna hir undo Linn. COMMOM TERN. 



A spring and fall migrant, and formerly a summer resident 

 on the coast, where- Mrs. Celia Thaxter ('70, p. 211) records 

 that the>- used to breed on Duck Island among the Isles of 

 Shoals. She mentions that the natives called them " med- 

 rakes. " The " tee-arr or fishing gull, Sterna iiiiiiuta, " 

 mentioned by Belknap (1792, in, p. 169) may also have been 



